Dining Out | Dining doesn't get any more local than at The Locals

Thursday

Feb 28, 2013 at 3:27 PM

NORTH PROVIDENCE - Buying farm-fresh local produce and meats is becoming a big selling point with many restaurants. Andrea LaFazia certainly doesn't pussyfoot about that. It says so right in the name of her restaurant, The Locals, where she is not on

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS

NORTH PROVIDENCE - Buying farm-fresh local produce and meats is becoming a big selling point with many restaurants. Andrea LaFazia certainly doesn't pussyfoot about that. It says so right in the name of her restaurant, The Locals, where she is not only the owner, but the chef.

"We cook from scratch and send it out with all sorts of love!" she declares on the Web page of Farm Fresh Rhode Island.

For the past three years, LaFazia has proven that she's doing something right in the kitchen - from hummus to burgers to pizzas to a positively heavenly four-layer chocolate-cherry cake - with local ingredients. (Aquidneck Farms in Portsmouth, Schartner Farms in Exeter, Baby Greens Farm in North Kingstown, the Blackbird Farm in Smithfield, the Farming Turtles in Exeter, Angell Farm in Lincoln and the Narragansett Creamery in Providence are among her purveyors.)

The Locals, on a dogleg street just off Smith Street, has a coffeehouse atmosphere, with mismatched tables, chairs and silverware. Water and some cocktails are served in Mason jars. There is a full bar with local beers, not-so-local wines and many cocktails.

The house-made Sangria ($8) had rum and triple sec in addition to the wine and was stronger and not as sweet as some, despite the fruit floating on top. The Newport Pirate ($8) made with Thomas Tew Rum from Newport, plus pineapple and orange juices, was bright and local and served in a Mason jar.

I thought a big bowl of the Butternut Squash-Apple Soup ($6) was a bit on the bland side, despite a nice flavor mix of the squash and apples. My dining companion, who is renowned for making something similar, disagreed, but then agreed that my quick touch of the salt shaker had perked it up.

Memories of the Tuscan Fries (a big basket for $5) linger. They weren't the crispiest fries, but the rosemary salt gave them a rich character and the mayo-based house aioli dipping sauce was very nice, though I soon decided I liked them just the way they were. I couldn't stop munching.

Just as wonderful were the Crab Cake Sliders ($8), lightly pan-seared and not heavy on filler, served on little toasts with a not-so-spicy mayonnaise-based remoulade sauce. LaFazia said the tiny toast bread is baked in The Locals' oven. A mango-tomato salsa added a cheerful note to the dish.

Maybe The Locals doesn't look like a place you'd expect to find a high-quality pizza, but I was impressed with their dinner plate-size Vegan Pizza ($11). An assortment of roasted vegetables and melted mozzarella topped a crisp crust (white or multigrain) and one of the richest, sweetest marinara sauces I've come across. LaFazia said that, as with everything else served at The Locals, the sauce is made in her kitchen. I'll go back just for the pizza.

A special this night was Meatloaf ($18), an exceptionally moist one-slab serving that had been dressed up with diced carrots, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, red onions, tarragon and spices. Delicious, topped with a balsamic truffle glaze. It came with not overly creamed mashed potatoes, so you could actually taste pieces of potato in it, plus mixed greens and slices of pesto bread. LaFazia said it's so popular she's going to make it a regular menu item.

The Mac & Cheese Trio ($15) is a chance to sample all three kinds served at The Locals - Classic Cheddar; Hawaiian; and Sweet Potato and Bacon. Each came in its own little ramekin. The verdict: Classic Cheddar was good, but didn't seem out of the ordinary, though LaFazia said it had a classic Mornay sauce. Hawaiian, with its mix of candied pineapple and ham, was a more interesting choice. Yet it was topped in the taste test by the Sweet Potato and Bacon, a blend of two flavors that went surprisingly well together.

Delicious as all this was, it couldn't top the four-layer Chocolate-Cherry Cake ($6) with a strawberry filling, plus crisp chocolate shavings and minced cherries in the cake. It was covered with creamy milk chocolate frosting, a maraschino cherry on top. I'd been eyeing the cake all evening as it sat on a counter under glass. By the end of the meal, however, I was pretty well stuffed and decided to have just a taste of my dining companion's dessert. One bite was all it took before I tried another and, before I knew it, I'd eaten nearly half the cake. This is one way to have your cake and be locally sourced, too. The customer base on the open-mike night we were there ran a mismatched gamut from twentysomethings to middle-agers. Besides Wednesdays' open mike nights there's live music Thursday through Saturday evenings and for the Sunday brunch, too.

I wondered whether, because of its size and high ceilings, the music might rock the place. But LaFazia in a later phone call said, "It holds music really well. The acoustics are great."